The invention is in the field of medical engineering, in particular implant medicine, and in particular relates to the possibilities of implanting components with a minimal effort using minimally invasive procedures.
Implant medicine allows the use of the most varied units and elements in a patient's body for the replacement of specific organs and body parts in a temporary or permanent manner or the insertion of specific units to support bodily functions.
Such units can usually be put in place in a simple manner with a large opening of the patient's body, but with considerable surgical trauma arising. The reduction of surgical trauma requires smaller procedures, with the openings for introducing components into the body in part only being a little larger or even smaller, with an elastic widening, than the components to be introduced. Corresponding units can be introduced in parts and can also be assembled inside the body.
The minimal invasive introduction often does not allow the direct handling of components by hand so that additional instruments such as forceps are used. However, the use of such holding instruments is also not always simple. The components to be implanted are frequently designed as small as possible and also rounded so as to provide as little irritation as possible in the body, in particular with cardiac assist systems having a plurality of parts which conduct blood. On the other hand, it brings along a difficult management by corresponding holding instruments such as forceps. A precisely targeted positioning or the assembly of individual components in the patient's body is also difficult. This can in particular be the case with cardiac assist systems when pumps, canulae and drive components have to be assembled.
Various aids are known from the prior art for implanting parts of cardiac assist systems into a patient's body.
An apparatus is known from PCT/US2008/081082 having an anchor which can be inserted close to the heart and which is connected to a guide fiber. A tubular hollow body is displaceable toward the anchor on the guide fiber and can be held there by means of a magnetic device.
A handling device for a canula is known from WO 2009/029387 A1 which has a guide body extending through the interior of the canula and a holding body which can be expanded radially in the manner of a cushion to hold the canula. Said holding body can be expanded so far that it jams in the interior of the canula.